Follow us (Rome, Via dei Due Macelli 66, 6 December 2017, 11:00 AM) for our roundtable on the Decrees implementing the Italian Law no. 220/2016 (“Cinema Law”) and the related investment opportunities concerning audiovisual works (including tax credit, automatic contribution, protection of minors and European works). We will also analyze the financing structures of audiovisual …

On 2 October 2017, the Italian Council of Ministers approved a new Legislative Decree (“Decree“), aimed at ensuring a wider protection to EU (and Italian) works in the audiovisual media services (“AVMS“) sector. A brief outline of the new provisions is set out below.

By Patrick Mitchell and Alastair Mackichan The larger operators of UK VOD services (such as broadcasters’ catch up services, and other on-demand TV and movie services) will again be required to pay an annual fee to meet Ofcom’s regulatory costs.

As broadly known, the EU Commission on May 25, 2016 published its proposal for a reform of the audio-visual media services Directive no. 2010/13/EU (“Proposal“, available here). The Proposal is currently under scrutiny: in particular, the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education on April 25, 2017, voted to amend the Proposal. The subject matter …

By Petter Bjerke As part of our “Brexit and MSE” series, today we look at another possible model of a post -Brexit trading relationship between the UK and the EU based on the agreement between the EU and Norway – one of the territories in the European Economic Area.

By Chris Bennett, Stephanie Ovens and Leandra Gupta In the forthcoming days and weeks, we will be publishing regular updates on issues relevant to Brexit. Today we look at one possible model of a post -Brexit trading relationship between the UK and the EU based on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (“CETA“) being negotiated …

By Katherine Mullally The British Board of Film Classification (“BBFC“), working in partnership with digital service providers including Vevo and Youtube, is giving movie-style age ratings to online music videos produced in the UK. This is being done with a view to improve consumer awareness of online content and to protect children from viewing inappropriate …

By Ann Cheung and Keitaro Uzawa The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan (METI) recently revised the Interpretative Guidelines on Electronic Commerce and Information Property Trading (Guidelines), which apply to all online business operations in Japan and clarify how the Civil Code, which governs Japanese commercial contracts, and other relevant laws, such as, …

By John Cloke & Jonathan Salt The Court of Appeal in England has recently made a second reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the case brought by UK free-to-air broadcasters ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 against the Internet streaming service TV Catchup (TVC) in relation to the unauthorised streaming …